Subject: Please protect shareholder rights (File No. S7-16-07)

Like hundreds of others, I'm writing to request that you protect
the right of investors to file shareholder resolutions and urge
you to take no action on the proposed initiatives that would
curtail or eliminate this essential right.

I recently took a volunteer trip to the United Republic of
Tanzania. I was there for three weeks taking pictures and
teaching English to students who were hungry to achieve better
scores on exams, and thus, eventually, better jobs for
themselves and their families. The overall goal was personal
enrichment as a lead-in to economic strength and national
stability.

Should American businesses perceive this as a threat? These kids
- and their teachers, and their bosses, and their prospective
businesses, and certainly their politicians - take their
eco-political cues from the United States. If the biggest fish
in the pond are American corporations, then the only chance we
stand to shift world values in business is by putting our money
where our collective mouth is. And we have a better chance than
most.

In essence: if a big company is playing by the rules -
legislative as well as moral - then they have nothing to hide.
And if smaller companies see this example, they, too, will work
for greater transparency and, thus, improved communities. I
don't think you need me to explain how the one progenitates the
other. It may be a gamble, but world markets are only as good as
the companies leading them.